Wall Street was prepared for a day of volatile trading following the release of Federal Reserve minutes on Wednesday night, but instead it was thrown into paralysis as the Nasdaq, which is favoured by some of the world’s top technology companies, went dark for hours.

Apple, Facebook and Microsoft were all affected by the sudden freeze, which struck at 12.14pm. Partial trading resumed at 2.45pm and the exchange was back online completely by 3.25pm.

Nasdaq said it "will work with other exchanges ... to investigate the issues of today, and we will support any necessary steps to enhance the platform", later adding that the halt was due to a "connectivity issue" that has been "identified and addressed".

The Nasdaq is America’s second-largest stock exchange behind the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). According to BATS Global Markets it has accounted for 28pc of all shares traded so far this month.

The stock exchange, which was founded in 1971, issued a message at 12.21pm saying it would halt trading in so-called “Type C” securities – the name given to Nasdaq stocks – until further notice “due to issues with quote dissemination”. It advised any firms with open orders to use other exchanges.

The NYSE stopped all trading in its rival’s stocks and was cancelling orders at Nasdaq’s request.

Mary Jo White, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, has called for meeting with exchange leaders, adding: “Continuous and orderly functioning of the securities markets is critically important to the health of our financial system and the confidence of investors. Today’s interruption... was serious.”

The lengthy hiatus will have a sizable impact on brokerages, which take a commission on any trades they place, as well as on investment banks, which make money by betting on the incremental volatility of stocks, rather than just the long-term gain or decline.

However, the episode is likely to have a more lasting effect on the reputation of Nasdaq, which was last year forced to delay Facebook’s high profile flotation because of another technical problem. After that fiasco, the stock exchange was fined $10m to settle federal civil charges brought by regulators, and a further $62m to compensate investment firms that lost money because of the problems.

Thursday’s blackout will also raise fresh questions about the robustness of US trading systems. Earlier this week, Goldman Sachs placed up to $100m of erroneous orders on NYSE because of a technical glitch. Most of these were later cancelled, but the episode has damaged the bank’s reputation.